An image capturing device generally comprises a gimbal and an image capturing apparatus carried on the gimbal. The gimbal is configured to fix the image capturing device, freely adjust an attitude of the image capturing apparatus (e.g., changing an elevation and/or orientation of the image capturing apparatus) and stably maintain the image capturing apparatus at a determined attitude to achieve a stable, smooth and multi-angle image capturing. The image capturing apparatus may be a camcorder or a camera.
The gimbal comprises a motor. The motor is provided with a stator, a rotor and a sensor for sensing relative positions of the rotor with respect to the stator of the motor. The prior art sensor generally includes an encoder and a potentiometer, where the encoder has a high precision but a large volume, a high cost and a certain frictional resistance, and the potentiometer has a low precision but a greater frictional resistance, which significantly affects the controlling of the gimbal. Both sensors are contact type sensors, resulting in a great frictional resistance and poor electrical contact.